Steve Martin began collecting fine art in 1968. In 2001, he began exhibiting at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, sharing his collection including works by Roy Lichtenstein, Pablo Picasso, David Hockney and Edward Hopper. In 2006, he sold Edward Hopper's "Hotel Window" for $26,800,000. Now, he has curated a new show, "The Idea of North," introducing United States museum goers to one of Canada's Group of Seven, Lawren Harris.

While in his mid thirties, Canadian Lawren Harris helped forge a distinctively Canadian style of painting, meant to express the wild nature and vast size of the Canadian landscape. He worked with a group of artists now known as the Group of Seven. Harris' work is known for its stylized abstract modernistic style and simplified composition.

Steve Martin Curates The Idea of North,
the paintings of Lawren Harris,
at LA's Hammer Museum through January 24

Lawren Harris is the best known of the Group of Seven. His work seems to resonate with his countrymen, expressing in a striking visual manner their feelings of their nation's uniqueness and beauty.

A. Y. Jackson, another member of the Group of Seven said, "Without Harris there would have been no Group of Seven. He provided the stimulus; it was he who encouraged us to always take the bolder course, to find new trails."

Moved and humbled by the landscapes he was painting, in time he decided not to sign his work, so that it would be judged on its own merit.

In 1926 at the age of 41, he quipped, "We are on the fringe of the great North and its living whiteness, its loneliness and replenishment, its resignations and release, its call and answer, its cleansing rhythms. It seems that the top of the continent is a source of spiritual flow that will ever shed clarity into the growing race of America."

Beatrice Djanhanbin introduces the visionary work of
artist
Lawren Harris, a member of Canada's Group of Seven

North Shore, Lake Superior, 1924

His paintings possess a spiritual dimension, often displaying the interplay of light and landscape, as if the land is poetically responding to the light like a heliotropic plant, harmoniously reaching out toward the warmth, energy and illumination descending from above.

While studying art in Germany from 1904-1907, be became interested in Theosophy, a mystical branch of religious philosophy which became evident in his landscapes of the wild nature of Canada's outback. Being from a wealthy family, he was freed from having to remain in the cities attending to his "day job." He had the rare fortune of being able to explore Canada's wilds and devote himself completely to his art.

In the 1920's, he organized painting expeditions to the Algoma Region and the North Shore of Lake Superior. There he developed his style known for its painterly thick impasto with thick decorative colors.

Lake and Mountains, 1928

Mountains in Snow, Rocky Mountains, 1929

The loosely formed Group of Seven (also known as the Algonquin School) never created a formal manifesto, but they lived and worked with two objectives: to offer a path for cooperation among Canada's artists and to cultivate and develop a distinctive Canadian artistic expression.

Frank Johnston 1888-1949, Arthur Lismer 1885-1969, J. E. H. MacDonald 1873-1932, and Frederick Varley 1881-1969. Later, others were invited to join the group: A. J. Casson 1898-1992, Edwin Holgate 1892-1977, and LeMoine FitzGerald 1890-1956. Two other artists are often associated with the group. Tom Thompson 1877-1917 was influential among the Group of Seven, but died prior to the formation of the group.

Lake Superior, 1923

Isolation Peak, Rocky Mountains, 1930

Mountains Near Jasper, 1934

Baffin Island Morning, 1930

Emily Carr was associated with the group, but never as an official member.

The Hammer Museum is pleased to present The Idea of North: the paintings of Lawren Harris. They say in their exhibition page, "an innovator on par with the likes of Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Over the last five years, many of Europe's most significant art has graced the walls of San Francisco's Hearst Galleries at the de Young Museum. Looking back, San Francisco has been blessed with an amazing cascade of art treasures.

This exhibition featured nearly 100 19th century works from masters who called France their home. Beginning with Bougereau and Courbet along with American ex-pat James McNeill Whistler to works by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Degas, there are abundant examples of impressionism's beauty and diversity. Today, although many art movements have come and gone, the enduring attraction and power of impressionism still remains a

Claude Monet: Saint-Lazare Station, 1877

Pierre Auguste Renoir: The Swing 1876

an enduring artistic legacy worth treasuring for all time.

Among the paintings on view were Edouard Manet's The Fife Player, 1866, Frederic Bazille's Family Reunion, 1867, The Birth of Venus by William Adolphe Bouguereau, 1879, Berthe Morisot's The Cradle, 1872, Claude Monet's Rue Montorgueil, Paris, Festival of June 30, 1878, and Edgar Degas' Racehorses Before the Stands 1866-68 and The Dancing Lesson 1873-76.

The paintings are now at home at the newly renovated Musee D'Orsay in Paris.

Quick on the heels of the Musee D'Orsay's Impressionists was a sampling of their Post-Impressionist collection. Included in this exhibition were late impressionist paintings by Claude Monet and

Pierre Auguste Renoir along with early modern masters Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, and the Nabi artists Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard.

Claude Monet:
London Parliament Sun Through the Fog

When visitors came to Van Gogh's Starry Night, they would linger. Further along, as they were about to exit the exhibition, something extraordinary happened. Many would turn around, retrace their steps and visit Starry Night again, gazing as if they had never seen it before. With its deeply-colored impasto piled high, observers with tilted heads commented, "Wow, it's amazing how looking at the original is a different experience from seeing it in pictures."

With the Musee National Picasso being closed for renovation, more than 100 of Picasso's masterpieces visited San Francisco. A variety of works spanning Picasso's entire career were chronologically displayed. Beginning with his early days in Paris, his Rose and Blue Periods, the exhibition proceeded through his Expressionist, Cubist, Neoclassical and Surrealist Periods. No one of Picasso's periods is necessarily chronologically distinct from others. Picasso often moved from one to the other and back again with ease.

Paul Cezanne said, "What we call painting was invented by the Venetians." These paintings from Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum present masterpieces by painters of the Italian Renaissance. With paintings by Montagne, Giorgiones, Titian, and Tintoretto, there are examples of how these painters allowed the natural world to break in, immersing their subjects with natural sunlight.

Titian: Portrait of Johann Frederick
Elector of Saxony 1548-1551

Like the exhibitions from the Musee d'Orsay and the Musee National Picasso, the paintings from the Kunsthistorisches Museum came to the San Francisco while their home museum underwent renovation. Recently, the de Young been able to turn other museums temporary dilemmas into enticing and extraordinary exhibitions for San Francisco's art loving community.

William S. Paley 1901-1990 founded CBS and was a long time officer and trustee for New York's Museum of Modern Art. His collection, presented in no particular order, includes works by Paul Gauguin, Eduard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon.

Paul Cezanne: Milk Can with Apples, 1879-80

David Rockefeller recruited and encouraged Paley to be President of the Museum of Modern Art. Under Paley's direction, he joined with Rockefeller in buying six works by Pablo Picasso from the Gertrude Stein collection. A painting from this group, Picasso's The Artist's Table was in San Francisco in 2011, part of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's The Steins Collect Exhibition.

The paintings of the Dutch Golden Age reflect the openness, modernity, prosperity and global consciousness of the Dutch people. Dutch painting was rich in landscape, still life and genre (everyday life) painting, but history painting was scarce and church art was nearly nonexistent.

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self Portrait, c 1669

These were paintings being sold to a secular audience, unencumbered by traditions and authoritarianism still experienced in other parts of Europe.

Vermeer's The Girl with a Pearl Earring shows a young and prosperous girl wearing an exotic dress with an oriental turban, highly stylish at the time, influenced by Dutch trade with the Far East.

From 1918 to the early 1930's, Georgia O'Keeffe spent her summers at Alfred Stieglitz's family estate on Lake George in upstate New York. She loved seeking out and capturing new subject matter in this rural setting, far from the hubbub of New York City life.

Her work on Lake George was one of the most productive phases of her career, and it is the place where she developed her modernistic style. The exhibition featured some stunning florals, simplified landscapes and rural barns.

Botticelli to Braque: Masterpieces
from the National Galleries
of Scotland
Mar 7, 2015 - May 31, 2015

This stunning exhibition was drawn from the collections of Edinburgh's Scottish National Gallery, The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art.

From Botticelli's The Virgin Adorning the Sleeping Christ Child and Titian's Venus Rising from the Sea, the exhibition traverses major points of western art, including works from the Dutch masters through impressionism and post impressionism and ending with works by Picasso and Braque.

Genius is seldom universally recognized in its own time, and such is the case with J.M.W. Turner 1775-1850. He laid the groundwork for impressionism, and blurred the lines of form with expressions of light, drama and power. He influenced Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and the impressionists who followed him.

The most amazing aspect of Turner's works is that they were created mostly between 1840 and 1850. It is most difficult to believe that when J.M.W Turner died in 1851, Claude Monet was only 11 years old.

Many of these Edwin Deakin paintings are on permanent display at Sacramento's Crocker Museum. Deakin is among California's best 19th century painters. His paintings are known for their brilliant light and color and their compelling composition. Walking through the Crocker's galleries of great California paintings, it was easy to identify his distinctive and pleasing work.

He was born of aristocratic stock in Sheffield, England. His natural artistic talents lead to a "japanning" apprenticeship, painting landscapes and floral designs on furniture. That early experience proved to be his only formal art training.

Crocker Museum Sacramento

Yet, by age 18, he was a notable landscape artist in both England and France. While Edwin was still 18, his family moved to Chicago in 1856 where his father had a hardware store. During and after the Civil War, Edwin did portraits of Civil War heros, exhibiting them at the Chicago Art Academy. He had a promising career within the Chicago art scene. But fifteen years after the family's arrival and courtesy of Mrs. O'Leary's cow, they lost their family business along with much of Edwin's artwork in the Chicago Fire of 1871.

At age thirty-two, Edwin moved to San Francisco where he embraced California. After establishing himself in California, he visited Paris between 1877 and 1879, where he traveled and painted in Europe and exhibited at the Paris Salon. In 1882-1883, he had a studio in Denver, and then returned to the Bay Area where he maintained his residence and studios in San Francisco and Berkeley the rest of his life. Among his artistic triumphs was a series of paintings of California's twenty-three missions. These paintings were helpful in campaigning for the preservation of the missions. He was also invited to be a member of the exclusive California Bohemian Club.

His work owes much to the successful romantic landscape painters he first encountered when he arrived in San Francisco: Thomas Hill, Albert Bierstadt, and Thomas Moran. His foreground trees silhouetted against sun drenched backgrounds were pleasing to the eye and his works were well received and acquired by the public.

Drive Near the Mission (1876)

Drive Near the Mission, 1876 Amid a foreground of silhouetted oaks and redwoods, a patch of sun illuminates a lone herdsman on horseback tending cattle with a sun drenched Spanish Mission and mountain in the background. This painting tells of a prosperous moment in the life of late 19th century northern California.

Eglise de Chelles, 1879 This French Gothic church with a shepherd and flock is both architecturally accurate but also spiritual. Deakin's painterly treatment of this scene bears witness to the high esteem he had for the realist and Barbizon painters of France, especially Jean Francois Millet whose L'eglise de Greville inspired Deakin when he saw it at the Musee du Luxembourg.

Eglise de Chelles (1879), reflecting Edwin Deakin's esteem for
Jean Francois Millet who painted L'egise de Greville in the early 1870's.

Christmas Morning, Hotel de Cluny, (after 1880, but not dated)

Christmas Morning, Hotel de Cluny, (after 1880, but not dated) In 1877, Deakin left California for Paris to seek out "the grand and picturesque." During his trip, Deakin sketched often at the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Hotel de Cluny and other notable architectural structures, sometimes with these structures adorned by snow. After his return to California in 1879, Deakin completed a painting entitled A Souvenir of Cluny, depicting a nun feeding sparrows on a snowy winter's day. An art critic of the San Francisco News Letter quipped, "Had the figure been omitted, it would have been a much better picture than it is." Deakin later produced Christmas Morning, Hotel de Cluny, perhaps heeding the critic's advice, featuring a stained glass window rather than the bird-feeding nun. Humboldt Mountains, Ruby Range Nevada (1882) Two years after he arrived in California, Deakin returned to Chicago on the train to convince his parents and siblings

Humboldt Mountains, Ruby Range Nevada (1882)

to move to California. As the train rattled on the tracks, Deakin busied himself with his sketchbook, taking in the sights along the Central Pacific Railway. He was impressed by the Wasatch Mountains of Eastern Utah and the Humbolt Mountains and River in Nevada, especially the run from Truckee to Reno.

Le Coin de Cuisine (Kitchen Corner) (1883) Prior to 1882, Deakin did not do still life paintings. Between 1875 and 1877, Deakin shared a Parisian studio with artist Samuel Marsden Brooks who is also represented in the Crocker Museum's collection. Brooks' specialty was still life which diminished the rivalry between the two artists, but Deakin was also influenced and encouraged by Brooks to do more still life. Although Deakin painted this in his San Francisco studio, it depicts a European scene, with the stone fireplace and snow dusted architecture through the window. Although not very visible in the photo to the right, underneath the peaked roof outside are carved the words "liberte, egalite, fraternite," the motto of the French Republic.

She Will Come Tomorrow (1888) from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens (1841). The story is a tragedy, of an orphan named Nell and her maternal grandfather who tries to provide for Nell by gambling. Instead of winning, the grandfather loses.

Le Coin de Cuisine (Kitchen Corner) (1883)

She Will Come Tomorrow (1888), derived from the title of Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, published 47 years earlier in 1841.

To make matters worse, the grandfather suffers a breakdown, and after a series of downturns, Nell dies. The painting shows the tragic end of the tale, when Nell's grandfather is mentally infirm, yet he visits Nell's grave daily in anguish, awaiting her return. Elements in the painting show Nell's straw hat and lunch basket brought along by her grandfather. Her grave is highlighted by the sunlight falling on the stone slab.

On his European trip to find some inspiration, Deakin spent time in London and Paris among other European cities. Some of the paintings after this trip included narratives, like this one from Dickens' story. Here, Deakin set this tale in Westminster Abbey, testament to Deakin's love of old stone masonry and architecture. The birds visible through the open window into the courtyard reflect Charles Dickens' line, "where the birds sang sweetly all day long."

Strawberry Creek (1893), Berkeley. Edwin Deakin, like many San Francisco artists in the early 19th century, endured the problem of forged paintings marketed as originals. Deakin wrote, "There is no help for it that I can see. The only thing left for artists in San Francisco is to ... leave the city. There is no use trying to down the 'picture pirate.'"

Deakin followed up his sentiment with action, and moved across the bay to Berkeley in 1890. He bought a part of the Peralta estate. There he built a tile-roofed mission style home and studio where he remained for the next thirty-three years until his passing in 1923. Deakin found many subjects in Berkeley for his painting, with Strawberry Canyon being one of his favorite locales.

Strawberry Creek (1893), Berkeley

Roses (1912)

Grapes and Architecture (1908)

Roses (1912) In the first decade of the twentieth century, paintings of flowers both cultivated and wild became quite popular, especially in southern California. In Los Angeles, Paul De Longpre painted all kinds of flowers and vegetation, mostly in watercolor. In nearby Pasadena, Franz Bishoff became known as the King of the Rose painters. Spurred by the success of
Paul de Longpre and Franz Bishoff, Edwin Deakin decided to offer up some friendly competition by creating some late career floral paintings of his own. As Deakin grew older, he continued to paint and exhibit. In this period of his career, he added paintings of profuse flowers, musical instruments, and other worthy objects to his still life paintings.

Grapes and Architecture (1908) In 1882, Edwin Deakin and his family spent a year in Denver. There, Deakin did new group of studio paintings he called "fruit studies." When Deakin returned to San Francisco, he continued doing fruit still lifes, and he often did grapes in front of stone walls and architecture. These paintings were well received and he continued doing them the rest of his professional life.

Today, Edwin Deakin is remembered as a romantic California painter. The crowning star of his career is a series of watercolor paintings of California's Spanish Missions, a project which he pursued for twenty-nine years. He is also known for his paintings of San Francisco's Chinatown and of the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and fire. He lived his last years in Berkeley, passing at the age of eighty-five.

On Sunday, November 15, 2015Jean Warren will be hosting the gallery and presenting a demonstration.She will have a wide selection of her work available for purchase
and may be persuaded to share a secret or two
as she demonstrates some of her techniques.Drop in, "express your marvel," and take a treasure home.

NEW ITEMS NOW AT THE GALLERY

"Sheep May Safely Graze."
Sweet 19th Century works with special pricing, from our collection.
Consider a gift for ... yourself!

Lydia Vercinsky, Redwood Forest, 1964
We need space! This magnificent large painting
of a gentle redwood forest by Lydia Vercinsky (1918-2001)
measures (with frame) 43.5" high by 55.5" wide.
Be bold and
make an offer!(We will deliver to the Bay Area, but will not ship.)

Lydia Vercinsky, Redwoods 1964
oil on canvas, 36 x 48

Happy Thanksgiving ... The gallery will be closed
Thursday, November 26.But drop in during your Thanksgiving Weekend,
Wednesday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend.

Stop & Enjoy the Estero Cafe in Valley Ford

Linda Sorensen's "Estero Collection"
will remain on exhibit and sale at
Valley Ford's Estero Cafe through November, with changed selections

Open everyday for a great breakfast or lunch
or - newly added - a BBQ dinner, Wed - Sat, 5-9 PM

John Hershey, Bodega Bay photographer,
participates in an
artist reception with 10 painters and photographers
for the new
book Sonoma Coast by Simone Wilson, local author and historian.
Both John and Simone will be there to talk about the book and sign copies.
Join them for a wine and cheese reception, Fri Dec. 4, 5 pm to 7:30 pm, and Sat Dec 5, 2 pm to 5 pm
Gold Coast Digital, 1040 N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa. http://www.goldcoastdigital.net

IN Santa Rosa The Annex Galleries specializing in 19th, 20th, and 21st century American and European fine printsThe Annex Galleries is a member of the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA).http://www.AnnexGalleries.com| Back to the Top

IN PETALUMAVintage Bank AntiquesVintage Bank Antiques is located in Historic Downtown Petaluma, corner of Western Avenue and Petaluma Blvd. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Warren Davis and the rest of the team at Vintage Bank Antiques has assembled a spectacular inventory of paintings. From the 18th Century to Contemporary Artists. We have paintings to suit every price point and collector level.
If you have a painting for sale, please consider Vintage Bank Antiques. Contact Warren Davis directly at WarrenDavisPaintings@yahoo.com, 101 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, CA 94952, ph: 707.769.3097http://vintagebankantiques.com | Back to the Top

IN PETALUMAPetaluma Art Center"... to celebrate local artists and their contributions and involve the whole community"